Paper presented at the 2nd Exchange of Experiences in Anthroposophic Medicine Conference, 25 September 1993, Belo Horizonte - MG, Brazil in Medicina Antropos6fica, Ampliacao da Art Medica, AnoXTV - Outono/94. Abrao MD, Fernanda, Brazilian Journal for Anthroposophical Medicine.

In general terms, the aim of this type of meeting is to provide mutual training and exchange of experiences in the field of medicine and therapeutics. For this reason, I feel encouraged to report the issues discussed in Belo Horizonte. In preparing the subject I was surprised at how little literature there is on this topic. There are many roads which can lead to hypertension. While we deal with this condition in our daily practice, theory in anthroposophic medicine is sketchy.

A Definition
According to Steiner, "Hypertension is the result of astral hyperexcitability at the level of the rhythmic system". In German, this pathology is called hypertonie, that is, exacerbated or intensified tonus. We know cramping as a constrictive action of the astral body on the muscles acting from outside as if a hand were gripping them. To understand "hypertonus", imagine this exacerbated astral tonus going deeper, as if it were generating exaggerated tonus at the level of the rhythmic, or cardiovascular, system. Here we see that this astral activity does not act from outside as it does in the case of a cramp.

It is not my intention to diminish the importance of the pathophysiology of hypertension. The comparison with a cramp is used only to get us closer to the constrictive, tension element of the astral process - something which is almost mechanical in the case of a cramp.

We find the causes of this astral tension of the rhythmic system in psychic disorders, moral tremors which affect the human being as a creature of soul and spirit. A simple and instructive example of the effects that a threat can cause to our feeling life is fright. When someone is startled, a feeling of abandonment arises, as if presence of mind abandons them. In other words, the activities of the Ego and the astral body move out of harmonious relationship with the physical-etheric body. These four bodies balance harmoniously in our rhythmic system. The consciousness of our Ego dwells in our cardiovascular system. If fright overcomes us, our capacity to react is impaired; the "shield" of the Ego and the astral body does not fully protect us. As a result, fear can invade us.

Rudolf Steiner points out the importance of disorders of the rhythmic system in human beings between the second and third seven-year periods as a cause of hypertension. It is well known that the second seven-year period of life is the solar phase, which is essentially a rhythmic one when the child suffers very little illness. In his book. Children's Destinies,(1) Dr. Holtzapfel explains this very well. The aesthetic and artistic experience of the world and the experience of beauty have their roots in this period. The child perceives everything around it through its most genuine feeling; we can state unequivocally that this feeling is an organ through which the child receives the world and through which he goes out to meet it. In this way, traumas of the soul from different sources will disturb the above-mentioned attitude of soul, and the soul will absorb these elements during the process of structuring the personality....